"Coates is a large village surrounding a wide green, whereon many a flock of nibbling geese did stray... The cottagers also collectively kept a herd of cows, donkeys, &c."

"Coates was a great reservior of farm labour, and many of the labourers, whose work lay at a distance from their homes, kept a donkey... and rode or drove their little carts afield; in harvest whole families were thus transported for the day to the field of operations."